Exhibiting a few frames of my life

Am I Corrupt?

Last Sunday I was on my way to New Delhi domestic airport to pick my sister who is arriving from Guwahati. She was supposed to reach the airport by 8:30, but the flight got delayed and her arrival time changed to 11:50 pm. I started for the airport a bit early, near about 9:30 pm. Normally, it takes almost one hour to reach the airport from my place in Ghaziabad. Since the arrival time was after 11 pm and there would be some time consumed in luggage collection, I decided to wait on the way for sometime before the airport. So, while I was driving I saw some cars parked in a service lane near Vasant Vihar, from where airport is just about 4-5 kilometers. There are some cabs also waiting there. It was not an official parking lot, but there’s no sign for no parking too. So, I decided to park my car there and wait for the arrival of my sister’s flight. The main reason to do so was you cannot park your car for longer time in the airport’s arrival zone and if you want to park your car in the airport parking, it is very time consuming; you not only have to be on queue to get entry into the parking lot but also you have to wait in a long queue to move out of the parking. Therefore, I decided to stop my car beside the already parked cars in the Service lane near Vasant Vihar.

I was sitting inside my car listening to some music played in the FM without much thinking. Suddenly I heard a knock on my car’s window. I looked up and saw a policeman asking me to come out of the car. I lowered my car’s window and asked him what the matter was. But he didn’t listened to me. His simple instructions was “Pick up your registration, license, and come out of the car”. I was a bit perplexed as well as confused for some time. Then I took my car papers and wallet and got down from the car. The moment I got down, he started talking about Chalan, parking in the no parking area, etc. etc. I tried to explain him that I hadn’t seen any sign for no parking and I parked there because I saw other cars already parked in that area. But all my reasonings were unable to find an entry to the policeman’s ears. I must say that he was not at all rude with me, but at the same time, he was also not ready to listen to me. Still I tried to explain that it was my fault as I didn’t realize that it was a no parking zone. But he was insisted on keeping my registration and license and giving me the ticket. I was a bit angry but couldn’t react, coz I know it could make thing worsen.

So, I again asked him politely if there was any other mean that could prevent me from getting the ticket. I was clear in my intensions. I apologized first for something that I didn’t do intentionally. But since, there’s no value of sincerity, I took the wrong way. I know my approach was incorrect but at the same time, I didn’t want to hand him over my license and registration and next visit the court to pay out the chalan. The money was not the matter, but the time. I live in Ghaziabad and the court will be somewhere in Delhi. I had to waste one of my office days for something I didn’t do intentionally. So, I tried to negotiate with the policeman. As I enquired him about any other way to resolve the issue, he promptly replied “You are an educated person, should I need to explain you”. I got the hint and opened my wallet and gave him Rs200. He willingly took the money and told me that I can park there till he was patrolling the area. I was relieved and at the same time confused at the policeman’s change of behavior. The man who just a few minutes ago was firm like a stone pillar on giving me a ticket for parking in an unauthorized area was then asked me to stay there as long as he was there. It was funny but sad too. This is how I act corruptly in many such situations. But the question remains what pushed me to act corrupt? Would not be it simple if the policeman just warned me for parking in the no parking zone that day and let me went as it wasn’t intentional. It will be two-way beneficial. Neither the policeman nor I had to be indulged in some kind of corruption.